A Resistance of Witches A Novel

I found it really really hard to get a grasp on my feelings for this book because it had a lot of potential and I very much wanted to love it, but in the end I just didn’t and here is why… First of all a few things I liked: The writing is great, eloquent, clever, engaging. The characters are lovely, relatable, diverse, with interesting backstories. I especially liked Henry a lot, and the inclusion of culturally diverse magical practices, based off mythology, traditions and cultural and ethnical backgrounds. The magic system in general is intriguing, although it's not explained in great detail, which I found a little sad, there was a lot of potential there. At times it's a lot more brutal than I expected, but it's war-times after all, so I guess that makes sense. Regarding the atmosphere and vibes, I could easily see this made into a movie because it's very cinematographic, I definitely had vivid pictures in my mind all the time. Now for the downsides: I can’t say too much without spoiling the whole plot, but even though I think I got an idea of what the author wanted to achieve, the ending did not lead there at all and the message got lost somewhere during the last third. Also, the book being set in World War II was not at all necessary for the plot and the conflict to work. I wouldn’t say it was badly researched, just not in depth. The historical background was basically just that, a background, a few locations and props and factions (though they really aren’t important for the story) the author adapted without really fleshing them out or making them relevant for the progression of the story. In fact, she kind of over-complicated things by using this setting and thus got lost in a whole host of historical implications that led astray from the path she set out on in the beginning. Finally, the ending left me really unsatisfied, even though I really liked the beginning of the story and had such a good feeling about it. Still, the writing was good and as this is a debut, I might take a look at future books by this author, though maybe not historical fantasy… Thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for the e-arc!